


There's something 'bout when I see ya, think I need a drink

by SaranaraLee



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange 2019, Workplace AU, holiday party, idiots being idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaranaraLee/pseuds/SaranaraLee
Summary: It's Emily's first holiday party with her new coworkers, and there's one in particular she wants to impress. Or at least not look like a fool in front of. Should be easy...right?
Relationships: Background Beca Mitchell/Chloe Beale, Emily Junk & Aubrey Posen, Emily Junk/Aubrey Posen
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	There's something 'bout when I see ya, think I need a drink

**Author's Note:**

> For tumblr user @c-k-mack. Merry Pitchmas!!
> 
> Title is from the song Used To This by Camila Cabello :)

Emily paced nervously in front of the apartment door, rehearsing her greeting. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this nervous. Close to her chest, she held a homemade pie. Apple. The favorite of the host’s.

On top of the pie was a bag of cookies in case she was wrong about the pie. Just to cover all her bases. She was pretty sure no one could hate chocolate chip cookies.

Emily muttered to herself. “Hi, long time no see! No that’s dumb...Hey there homie, happy holidays! I can’t believe I just said that…”

It was her first company party after starting her new job, and she really wanted to make a good impression. She liked all her coworkers, and was pretty sure they all liked her, but that was all in the workplace. There was something different about being out-of-office cool.

Emily jumped as the door swung open, revealing Aubrey in a green holiday sweater, decorated with reindeer and snowflakes.

“I thought I heard someone out here. You want to come in?”

“Um yeah, I’d love to.”

So that could have gone better.

  


* * *

  


It was only a couple of days ago that Emily figured out her massive crush on Aubrey.

She was with her coworker Beca at lunch in their building cafeteria, and going on and on about how _cool_ and _great_ and _smart_ Aubrey was. And how happy it made her every time Aubrey said her name, in person or over email. She was sure Beca stopped listening to her five sentences ago, as she probably heard Emily’s spiel a thousand times before. Yet, Emily still felt the need to express all the amazing things about Aubrey Posen. She got to listing all the pretty intricacies of Aubrey’s smile when the epiphany hit her like a ton of bricks.

_Oh._

The sudden and unusual silence must have pulled Beca’s focus from her phone. “Dude you okay?”

“I have a crush on Aubrey!” Emily shout-whispered across the table. “Oh my god Beca what do I do?”

Beca shrugged. “Beats me, Em. I don’t know, just tell her?”

Emily glared daggers at her friend. “Easy for you to say. I know you and Chloe pined over each other for _seven years_ and _she_ was the one that ended up telling _you_.”

“Well, that seems a little dramatic.”

“We both know that it’s true.” They engaged in a brief staring contest before Emily broke and pouted. “Help meeeeee.”

Beca rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. “Fine dude, but you owe me lunch.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

  


* * *

  


Sharing a cubicle wall, Beca and Emily became close friends through the proximity of their desks. Emily liked asking a lot of questions when she first started, and Beca (to her chagrin) was the closest victim. Gradually, gruff Beca warmed up to her, and the two became close work buddies.

And although Emily liked Beca a lot, her favorite coworker would definitely be Aubrey Posen. Hands down, no contest. No offense to Beca.

(“None taken,” she said, when Emily inevitably shared her thoughts one day.)

There was no one that could match the quiet authority, intelligence, and kindness Aubrey held. 

Aubrey had been at the company for a couple of years now, quickly rising through the ranks with her invaluable insight into various projects. She also became a great resource for Emily whenever Beca couldn’t figure out how to help.

Sometimes Emily would skip asking Beca altogether, making the excuse that Beca was busy, when she could clearly see Beca over their shared wall, playing games on her phone. She told herself that she learned better when Aubrey was giving her advice, probably because she hung onto every last syllable. Though some people in the office were intimidated by Aubrey, Emily didn’t get it.

She kept feeling herself drawn towards her, rather than away.

And so, Emily took every opportunity to get on any project with Aubrey. Even if it was just scanning reports or organizing files.

Sure working at a desk wasn’t exactly what Emily envisioned when she graduated college, but it wasn’t the worst thing either. She hadn’t really known what she wanted to do, besides hopefully something in psychology. Unfortunately, that vagueness and indecisiveness didn’t land a job in the field. Those in her major that did get a job right out of university knew exactly what they wanted to go in, and could flawlessly articulate their motivations.

But Emily wasn’t like that. 

Psychology 1001 was her favorite course freshman year, so she stuck with it. She enjoyed most of her psych classes since, but none really convinced her to pursue a certain career. It was incredibly interesting, sure, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do with all the information.

Senior year, she applied to a bunch of different positions on her school’s job website, and eventually got an offer from a financial consulting company. It involved a mixed bag of work, none of which utilized her psych degree, but there were definitely worse places to be. It had good benefits, a nice desk space for her family of plants, and most importantly, fun coworkers.

Everyone’s genuine kindness came as a pleasant surprise. So even though it wasn’t her field of choice, Emily found herself enjoying her days, as the people she got to help were awesome.

And there was one person in particular she especially liked working with.

Whenever Aubrey sent out a mass email asking for volunteers on new projects, Emily would respond almost immediately. A message would appear on Emily’s computer asking her to stop by Aubrey’s office to talk over the project. Emily usually left the conversation thinking it all could have easily been communicated through email, but she wasn’t going to complain. Meeting with Aubrey always made her day, if not her entire week.

  


* * *

  


On Friday, Emily spent over an hour in Aubrey’s office, discussing all the issues in their current project. It was a frustrating one, with two more problems springing up whenever they solved one. Being near five p.m., they decided to press pause and look at it with fresh eyes next week.

Emily turned to leave before being called back by Aubrey.

“Hey, um. Are you still going to the office party?” She looked uncharacteristically nervous. 

“Yeah! Your place right?” Emily replied cheerily. Her response seemed to relax Aubrey’s shoulders. “I’ll try not to trash it.”

Aubrey smiled warmly and Emily struggled to maintain her professional composure. “I’ll hold you to it. See you this weekend.”

  


* * *

  


Now Emily was at this party, hanging out with her coworkers. Again, she loved them all, but there was one in particular she was hoping to spend time with. To her disappointment, the host was in high demand, greeting people at the door and finishing up food preparations.

So besides their brief interaction when she got in, Emily wasn’t able to get a moment with Aubrey.

“What are you doing in the corner?”

Emily looked up to see Jessica and Ashley watching her curiously. She didn’t even notice they arrived at the party.

Jessica ended up answering Ashley’s question. “She’s sulking because she hasn’t gotten any time with her girlfriend yet.”

Emily spluttered. “Girlfriend? What? I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend. Massive crush. Same thing.” Ashley dismissed.

“Are you going to do anything about it?” Jessica asked.

“About what?” Playing innocent wasn’t her strong suit, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

Ashley was blunt about it. “About asking Aubrey out.”

“Don’t deny you have a thing for her.”

Emily knew she wasn’t going to get out of this one. She sighed. “It’s just, I don’t want to mess up our work relationship, and I’m pretty sure she just sees us as coworkers.”

They both gave her a weird look. Jessica sipped at her drink like she had a secret. 

Emily narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Nothing,” they said in unison, walking away to rejoin the rest of the party.

_Well that was weird_ , she thought as she made her way to the drink station. Emily was already one beer down, and ready for another one. Her eyes latched on the bottle of patron.

  


* * *

  


The party was going very smoothly, all low-key mingling and chatter in small groups. Multitudes of Christmas lights and festive sweaters added to the cheery atmosphere, and that shot of tequila helped Emily loosen up. But of course, with this group, the calm wasn’t going to last. It came as a surprise to no one that Chloe was the one to suggest a party game.

“Okay, I have the perfect idea,” she said once the entire group gathered on the floor around her. Chloe’s eyes glinted mischievously. “Truth or drink.”

“Game is simple. Basically truth or dare, so the person whose turn it is can ask anybody a question, and they have to answer truthfully or opt out by taking a shot. That person then gets to pick who they ask a question to, and so on.” 

Stacie and Fat Amy were practically jumping out of their skins in enthusiasm. Beca had a look in her eyes akin to fear.

When Emily entered the apartment earlier that evening, never did she expect she’d be learning her coworkers’ dirtiest secrets. Thankfully, they seemed to think of her as the kid of the group, so the questions asked to her were tame in comparison. 

Aubrey: “Where was your first kiss?” (Under the football bleachers.)

Lilly: “How many summoning spells have you done?” (None? Lilly seemed disappointed by the answer.)

Chloe: “What age did you stop believing in Santa?” (Emily threw back a shot for this one. Everyone laughed.)

A couple of rounds passed, and it was back to Chloe’s turn to ask.

“Okay Aubrey. Out of everyone in this room,” Chloe tapped her chin thoughtfully, “who would you want to bang?”

Aubrey froze and immediately knocked back her shot, which resulted in a chorus of ooo’s.

“Oh my god Aubrey who is it??”

“Is it Beca?”

“Ew Flo don’t suggest my girlfriend.”

Fat Amy piped in. “Okay then, it has to be Stacie.”

The ooo’s were even louder this time. Emily saw Stacie throw a suggestive wink to Aubrey across the circle, and a slight blush painted Aubrey’s cheeks.

Suddenly the room felt too stuffy.

Emily got up in an attempt to escape the situation, but ended up knocking into the coffee table next to her and tipping over a glass of wine. Her reflexes were enough to save any red liquid from getting on the carpet, but the same couldn’t be said about her white snowman sweater.

Sloppy drunk at her crush’s holiday party. Cool cool.

As if this night could get any worse.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help get you cleaned up.” Of course Aubrey was offering. Emily didn’t know whether to be excited or mortified at the prospect of being in close quarters with Aubrey.

As Aubrey grabbed paper towels nearby, Emily noticed Chloe whisper something in her ear, causing her to blush again. Emily frowned. It probably had something to do with Stacie.

Emily locked eyes with Beca, who gave her an encouraging two thumbs up. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Plans A and B that Beca concocted consisted of asking Aubrey out via taco sauce packets that say “Marry me?”, or serenading a lovey Christmas song with Aubrey’s name added in. Thank goodness Chloe was the one that asked Beca.

Aubrey made a pitstop in her bedroom to pick up an extra sweater and bath towel, and as she closed the bathroom door behind them, Emily’s heart raced. _She’s literally just helping you remove a stain. Not sexy. Calm down._ Emily internally yelled at herself.

Aubrey handed over the sweater and towel. “I’ll turn around so you can change.”

True to her word, she turned as Emily pulled off her ruined sweater. Emily toweled off any wine that seeped through fabric and onto her skin.

“Sorry I’m taking you away from spending the party with Stacie,” Emily muttered as she pulled the clean sweater on. She passed the now blotched towel back to Aubrey.

The older girl furrowed her eyebrows. “Why would I want to be spending it with Stacie?”

“Because, you know, you have a crush on her.”

“Did I say that?”

“Well no, but everyone seems to think so. From earlier.” Aubrey didn’t add anything so Emily continued. “And, I get it. She’s smart and beautiful, and flirty and cool. And probably really good in bed. Oh my god why did I say that—”

“Emily.” Aubrey’s firm voice brought her back from her spiral. 

She took a breath. “Sorry.” Emily finally met Aubrey’s eyes.

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”

The hem of her sweater suddenly became super interesting. She heard Aubrey take a breath.

One moment, Emily was wondering if her clumsiness completely blew her chance with the prettiest woman in the world, and the next, she was feeling soft lips on hers. Just as quickly as it began though, it ended.

“Was that okay?” Aubrey asked, searching her eyes for any signs of discomfort.

Emily nodded furiously, then pressed her lips back onto Aubrey’s, sinking into the feeling. This kiss was more needy, as if making up for lost time. /Aubrey, Aubrey, Aubrey/ shouted her mind, body and soul. Hands gripped her waist, desperate for some sort of grounding.

Just as Emily pushed Aubrey up against the wall, sharp knocking pulled them out of their bubble. 

“You guys done making out in there??”

Emily could feel Aubrey smile against her lips, then slowly pull apart, giving one last quick peck.

“Out in a sec, Chloe!”

“You better because I really need to pee!” Came the shout back through the door.

As the sound of footsteps receded, Emily found Aubrey’s eyes focused back on her.

“So…you kissed me.” Emily said slowly.

“Mmhmm.”

“Like on the mouth.”

“That’s generally how it works.”

The gears in Emily’s brain were working overdrive to process the past few minutes. She was sure she was dreaming, except it was better than every single dream she’s ever had. Every cell in her body was electrified. Emily hated running, but she felt like she could sprint a marathon .

“You like me.“

The corner of Aubrey’s mouth twitched up, and she laced her fingers with Emily’s. “Yeah, for a while now.” 

“What??”

“I didn’t know if you felt the same way about me.” Aubrey bit her lip. “And I didn’t want to mess up what we had at work if I was totally misreading any signs.”

Emily leaned in and kissed Aubrey again, soft but firm, a nice medium between their first two kisses.

“Hope there isn’t any more confusion.”

Aubrey laughed, and Emily melted. She could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk and chill with me on [ Tumblr](http://pindaleng.tumblr.com) :) Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
